Phantom Spirit Peach Tree

After all, he had never hidden his cultivation before. If he suddenly concealed it now, wouldn’t that be tantamount to announcing to everyone that he possessed a treasure capable of hiding cultivation, while also telling them that there was something unusual about his cultivation and that he had deliberately concealed it to keep outsiders from finding out?

What Yuan Jinsheng probably hadn’t expected was that this outsider being tested on the Heart-Questioning Road was actually a Golden Core cultivator as well.

And not just any Golden Core cultivator—he was a cultivator from the cultivation world who was extremely knowledgeable and well-traveled.

Meanwhile, Liu Yunan, who was in the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall sorting through the day’s task settlements, received Yuan Jinsheng’s voice transmission talisman. He immediately got up and hurried toward the Heart-Questioning Road.

Lin Xiao had already told him about He Yi’s identity.

The other party was from the Talisman Sect and very likely had a powerful cultivator from the cultivation world backing him. If they could get He Yi to act as a bridge between them, it would greatly benefit the sect’s future development in the cultivation world.

Of course, the specific arrangements would have to be carefully planned later.

But since He Yi had already arrived and had successfully passed the Heart-Questioning Road, they naturally had to receive him properly and not let this opportunity slip away.

Even so, Lin Xiao had instructed him that if He Yi really passed the Heart-Questioning Road’s examination and entered the sect, he should simply be assigned to Azure Cloud Peak like everyone else. There was no need to give him any special treatment.

Before leaving, Liu Yunan casually placed a newly prepared set of standard supplies for an Azure Cloud Peak disciple into a storage bag and brought it with him.

On the way, he also used his lock ring to contact Lin Xiao and inform him that He Yi had successfully passed the Heart-Questioning Road.

“Good. Just receive him normally. As for lodging, have him build his own house like the other disciples,” Lin Xiao instructed.

After all, this was a tradition of the Lingxian Sect. Once someone joined their sect, they had to experience this custom.

Besides, He Yi was a Golden Core cultivator. Building a house with his own hands should be easy for him, right?

“He isn’t familiar with anyone else, so see if you can arrange a location where it’ll be easier for him to get acquainted with the other disciples. Also, explain our sect’s situation to him. Anything the other Azure Cloud Peak disciples know, make sure he knows as well. Tell everyone about him during dinner. We’ll discuss the rest after I return.”

“Got it, Brother Xiao. When will you be back?” Liu Yunan asked.

At that, Lin Xiao’s tone grew somewhat solemn.

“It may be quite a while. I discovered something here and need to spend some time investigating it.”

Hearing this, Liu Yunan did not ask any further questions.

“All right. Be careful, Brother Xiao. I’ll take care of everything in the sect with the others. Don’t worry.”

After ending the conversation, Liu Yunan hurried to receive He Yi, who had followed the Heart-Questioning Road up and was now standing beneath the Ten-Li Peach Blossom Tree.

“Congratulations on passing our sect’s Heart-Questioning Road examination.” Liu Yunan walked beneath the Ten-Li Peach Blossom Tree and spoke to He Yi, who was staring intently at it.

Only after hearing the voice did He Yi slowly turn around and look at Liu Yunan.

He raised a fallen peach leaf in his hand. His expression was relatively calm, but his eyes were filled with astonishment.

“The Lingxian Sect… actually has such a remarkable spirit peach tree?”

His rising tone was filled with disbelief.

Liu Yunan did not understand. Following He Yi’s gesture, he looked up at the peach tree he had been seeing every day for the past three years, somewhat puzzled.

“What’s wrong with this peach tree?”

Seeing how accustomed Liu Yunan was to it, He Yi drew a deep breath. Only after a long while did he speak.

“I once read a description in an ancient text kept in the Talisman Sect’s Scripture Repository: ‘The Illusory Spirit Immortal Peach Tree is ancient and unadorned in form, graceful in blossom, pure in flavor, and jade-green in leaf. With spiritual energy brushed across its leaves, they can transform into myriad forms of the world, making truth and illusion impossible to distinguish.’”

As he spoke, Liu Yunan saw the hand holding the peach leaf tremble slightly. A faint stream of spiritual energy flowed from He Yi’s fingertip and covered the leaf.

In the next moment, the peach leaf in his hand disappeared. In its place was a small gray rabbit.

Liu Yunan swept it with his divine sense and discovered that the rabbit was actually alive! If he had not personally watched it transform from a peach leaf, he would have had no way of telling that it was fake.

Who would have thought that the leaves of the Ten-Li Peach Blossom Tree possessed such a function?

While still astonished, Liu Yunan suddenly remembered that they usually collected all the fallen leaves, intending to refine them into Peach Leaf Talismans later. Then, seeing how shocked He Yi was by the appearance of the Ten-Li Peach Blossom Tree, he inexplicably began to feel a little guilty.

However…

“The Illusory Spirit Immortal Peach Tree? No, no, our sect calls it the Ten-Li Peach Blossom Tree.” That was the name Brother Xiao had given them, so it definitely couldn’t be wrong.

He Yi seemed not to hear him. He turned his head back toward the tender little peaches growing on the tree and continued, whether he was speaking to Liu Yunan or merely talking to himself:

“And this Illusory Spirit Immortal Peach Tree has even borne fruit… Ancient texts say that it is exceedingly rare for this tree to produce fruit—an occurrence seen only once in ten thousand years. Even when it does bear fruit, no one can pick it. Whenever the fruit ripens, a protective membrane forms around the entire tree. No matter how powerful a cultivator is, they cannot break through it to retrieve the fruit. They can only watch as the fruit falls.”

“Even more miraculous is that the fruit vanishes without a trace before it can hit the ground. Some speculate that the tree devours it itself. Others say that the fruit dissipates into the world. Because of this, no one in the world has ever learned what effect its fruit has…”

As he gazed at the tender fruits hanging from the tree—fruits that were exceedingly rare according to the ancient records, whose effects were unknown to the world—He Yi’s voice grew softer and softer. By the time he reached the final few words, Liu Yunan could barely hear him.

Seeing how distracted he looked, Liu Yunan scratched his head from the sidelines, unsure of what to do. He had never encountered a situation like this before.

“When these peaches ripen, we’ll see how our sect master decides to distribute them. If there are enough, perhaps everyone will get to eat one. Then won’t you know what they do?”

“So, fellow cultivator, shall we first go through the process of joining the sect?” Liu Yunan said, raising the storage bag containing the new disciple’s supplies.

Perhaps some part of his words had struck a nerve. He Yi finally turned back to look at Liu Yunan, his tone filled with disbelief.

“The sect will distribute these Illusory Spirit Peaches… for us to eat?!”

Brother Xiao had never mentioned this to them before, and Liu Yunan was far from certain himself.

“I don’t know. We’ll see what the sect master decides. Besides, didn’t you say that no one knows what these things are useful for? If we don’t eat them, how else are we supposed to find out what they do?”

He Yi: “…”

Did they even realize that the Illusory Spirit Immortal Peach Tree was something only a select few people in the cultivation world—those who had access to the treasured ancient texts of the various major sects—had ever heard of?

He felt that the number of shocks he had received today was enough to equal all the surprises he had experienced over the past twenty-odd years combined.

Recalling everything he had experienced on the Heart-Questioning Road behind him, and how utterly different it had been from the Heart-Questioning Roads of the Talisman Sect and the many other sects he had encountered, he felt somewhat dazed.